[.ca] Army Basic Training: Be Smart, Be Ready (ISBN 0738857424)

Valuable guide to Basic Combat Training:
I read this several months before shipping out to Ft. Knox, Ky., for Basic Combat Training. Now I've graduated Basic (& Advanced Individual Training, at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo.) & can attest to the book's accuracy & usefulness. ... Simple preparation is a key to Basic success: Talk with soldiers who've already completed the training; read Capt. Thiebes' book; do regular push ups, sit ups & running; glean all you can from your recruiter; attend a Non-Prior Service School or similar if one is available in your area. ... Surprisingly few resources are available like Thiebes' book, & hers is the best. She was a BCT Company Commander, so she is extremely familiar with what she's writing about. ... Strengths of the book include that it avoids over-dramatizing what's ahead; it encourages being physically prepared; it gives a good sense of what to expect at Basic, including a sample training schedule; it gives broad points of view (male, female ... cadre, trainee) & it has lots of useful snippets of information, such as in the Q & A section. ... Be wary of the book's packing list: My drill sergeants would have confiscated half the stuff recommended -- bring as little as possible. Even if you think you brought the right stuff, you'll end up buying it again at the PX anyway because the one you brought was the wrong kind (i.e. a solid colored soap dish when a clear one is required, etc.) ... The photos are poor quality, but otherwise this is a useful book. ... A separate book about AIT is unnecessary since AIT is essentially a continuation of BCT & specifics vary widely depending upon the trainee's Military Occupational Specialty. The best advice about AIT is not to believe the stories that say it's more relaxed & less disciplined than Basic. ... And if you're wondering if you can make it, "you can": I was 38 (I got an "exception to policy" after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks). Basic success is heavily dependent on positive mental attitude & a genetic inability to quit. This book will help. Hooah!

Obvioulsy, reviews have been written by the authors friends:
What in the world are these other reviewers talking about. Must be the author reviewing her own work or her friends. This book just talked about basic training. it gave no special survival tactics or any way of succeeding more than the other recruits. I found nothing at all special about this book.

Not that much info:
I am about to leave for basic training and i bought this book. this book taught me nothing new. it has basic concepts that any average joe would know. I was hoping to find new tips and tricks and found nothing like that. Also, this is a self published book (produced by xilibris) which means that it cant even get picked up by a publisher. In other words, any average joe can right a book and get it printed, all you have to do is pay money for the book to get printed. If your about to go to basic training I would look elsewhere if you need a book to inform you of your future experiences

Not bad, but not particularly useful.:
It's an adequate reference, and a decent starting point for research into basic training. The information is timely, useful, and quite condensed. It is also quite limited in its depth. For $20 one should expect a bit more detail and discussion. The most valulable part of the book is the references for further research. However, I should note that you need not buy this book to get the information contained within. Go to usmilitary.about.com instead. While you don't get the word for word contents of this book, you get the equivalent information for all five service branches of the US military plus quite a bit more than is contained in the book.

Decent resource:
I bought this book before I left for basic training last year and scoured it for information. The book is pretty thorough as far as what you'll be doing when you get to basic, and what kind of shape you have to be in. I believe it also has an exercise plan to get in shape for basic - though I could be wrong. It has been about 10 months since I read the book. :) The biggest thing to realize about basic training (and the army in general it seems) is that it's all a mind game. If you can get in the right mental state, the physical stuff is no problem. You will do enough physical stuff while in basic so that passing your PT test at the end won't be a problem. I started basic doing 2 pushups, 11 situps and a 22 minute run - by the time I finished I was almost maxed on pushups, and was passing AIT standards in situps and the run. My PT score was well over 200 (only need 180 to pass AIT, 150 to pass basic). Getting yourself in the right mindset is the most important thing. The drill sergeants will try and mess with your head, and so will your fellow soldiers. Books like this emphasize the physical aspect of basic training, and I wish they put a LOT more time and effort in to the mental part - which is why I gave this one 4 stars instead of 5.